September 07, 2004 :: Early riser

Most of you who know me know I'm not really a morning person. It's all I can do to drag myself to work at a halfway decent hour most days (although that may have a lot more to do with the morale at the job rather than my own predilections). I'm getting older though, and I've realized that I have to take better care of myself. Strangely enough, former president Bill Clinton's quadruple bypass surgery got me to thinking... he has access to the finest medical care in the world, spare no expense, and yet he still ended up needing major heart surgery. What does that mean for me, an average joe with rapidly spiraling health care premiums despite my apparent health, single childless status and relatively young age? So I decided I need to take better care of myself. I've been thinking about these kinds of things a lot as I approach the first major milestone birthday that's actually frightening... it's all downhill from 30, right? At least for men, it seems like you'd no longer have the excuse of youth for screwing up your life. Time to get it together.

So with my new perspective and resolve, I've decided to start going to the gym in the mornings before work. That means getting up (not just waking up, but actually getting out of the bed and getting moving) at 6:00 am or earlier. I recognize that lots of people do this on a regular basis, but this is a big deal for me. Being the analytic mind that I am, I had to do a pro/con analysis. First, the downside:

• Have to get up earlier EVERY DAY... I will get used to this after a while. though.
  
• This is bound to ruin my social life... not only can I not stay up late on any weekday, I probably won't be able to stay up late on weekends either, as my body clock will be shifted earlier.
  
• Extra commute distance. I absolutely refuse to shower in the gym, and trying to keep my clothes unwrinkled and getting dressed in the locker room isn't my style, so I'll have to drive back home after going to the gym. Probably an extra 7-10 miles roundtrip. Plus I have to deal with morning traffic coming back towards my house. Plus in a few months I'll be driving half-sleep in the dark during the coldest (and presumably iciest) part of the day
  

There is a good deal of upside to this:

• It should help smooth out my workout schedule, so that other events coming up won't affect it the way they did when I tried to work out after work. Now, I can work out in the morning, go to work, then go to those spontaneous happy hours after work without feeling guilty.
  
• Working out more regularly will of course show health benefits...
  
• ... and I'll feel better about the $45 a month my gym costs, since I'll actually be using it more often.
  
• The gym is less crowded in the mornings... I didn't have to wait for anything. After work, its absolutely packed until 8 or 9 pm. That's ridiculous.
  
• Ruining my social life will have the beneficial side effect of spending less money on BS.
  
• Maybe this will result in me having more energetic, more productive days. We'll see about that.
  

So for now, the upside has it. I've promised myself to go every morning this week, as an experiment. If it's sustainable, I'll continue this schedule. I figured, might as well start on a short week, to give myself a decent chance at success.

One other thing I noticed... people are more friendly in the gym at that hour. A random sampling of my friends would reveal that most are ogres in the morning, so I naturally assumed that represented the general population too. In hindsight, I probably collected friends who, like me, weren't morning people. Two people (whom I didn't know previously) actually spoke to me today in the gym this morning. That never happens in the evenings. I have this impression that morning workout people are more serious about their workouts, and consequently, about accomplishing goals in life. Maybe on my new schedule I'll make new friends who fit that profile.

posted by Rainmayun at 11:33 AM -

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